Kevin De Bruyne has been praised as the “best playmaker in the world” by his national team coach.

The Manchester City midfielder came up with a hat-trick of assists before finishing off Scotland with the final goal in a 4-0 Euro 2020 qualifying win over Scotland at Hampden Park last night.

His performance earned him a rare ten out of ten from many of the Belgian press, and even French sports paper L’Equipe – notorious for being sparing with their plaudits – described De Bruyne as “supernatural”.

But it was former Everton and Wigan boss Roberto Martinez who led the appreciation of the Blues star.

The two men have not always seen eye to eye, with De Bruyne critical in the past about the deeper role he has sometimes been asked to play in more defensive Belgian set-ups.

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But these days De Bruyne is used in a similar way to that employed by Pep Guardiola – and is underlining his world-class credentials.

“Kevin can give the decisive pass before the opponent realizes it,” said Martinez afterwards. “He sees everything so quickly.

“As far as I am concerned, he is the best playmaker in the world. At the World Championship he was already very important to us, afterwards he knew a season full of injuries and he missed many matches. Now he is fresh again and you see that.”

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That also bodes well for City, who won the domestic treble last season when De Bruyne was missing for half of the season, and below par for a chunk of the rest as he fought for full fitness.

After a rare summer break, he is already looking like a player who should make a difference as the Blues seek to improve on the near-perfection of last season.

Scotland international Ryan Christie spoke of how it felt to be playing against a player in such form: "To be honest, he’s a frightening player. I’m going to watch the game again and watch what he did. I know it will be painful."

The Scottish Sun said “No-one was in the same stratosphere” as De Bruyne.